2.5" Drive - Speed Vs Storage?

ironclaw

Hi Folks,

I've been looking to upgrade my MacBook from a 160GB to something abit bigger. I recently maxed out the RAM at 8GB and it has made a big difference. Much smoother in operation.

I've been trying to match the power specs between my current hard drive and a new one. The included drive is a FUJITSU MJA2160BH and from reading it seems to be a very low power operator. I'd like to keep in the same range, at least to avoid a hit on the battery life which currently is very good.

My current choices are:

1TB Toshiba:

http://www.dabs.ie/products/toshiba-1tb-2-5--5400-8mb-sata300-7366.html

500GB Hitachi:

http://www.komplett.ie/Komplett/product/ZKB_01COM/11_HDD/06_INTHD25/productdetails/10022453/Hitachi_Int_500GB_2_5_Sata_300_5400rpm_8MB/HTS545050B9A300/default.aspx

Seagate 500GB MomentusXT Hybrid:

http://www.dabs.ie/products/seagate-500gb-momentusxt-hybrid-sata-300-2-5--7200rpm-32mb-70JK.html

With regards to the last one, its coming in slightly above the price of the 1TB. I want speed but for a marginal increase I'd be forsaking 500GB of storage. Anyone used the MomentusXT Hybrid? Is it worth it for the speed vs storage trade off? SSD's are out due to the cost. €100 is about the max of my upgrade budget.

ironclaw.

Slutmonkey57b

There's no point worrying about speed unless you're buying an SSD - it's splitting hairs between the speed of a snail and a slug, compared to a cheetah.

ironclaw

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

There's no point worrying about speed unless you're buying an SSD - it's splitting hairs between the speed of a snail and a slug, compared to a cheetah.

Very true. The only reason I looked at the XT was that its coming in at roughly half the speed of SSD. And a good bit ahead of the normal hard drives. As a price exercise, seems like a good value.

Slutmonkey57b

I'd certainly go for the XT over a vanilla 500GB drive, or a 5.4k 1TB drive. Bear in mind that the WDC Blue that's in that comparison video isn't the best of the SSD crop, either.

ironclaw

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

I'd certainly go for the XT over a vanilla 500GB drive, or a 5.4k 1TB drive. Bear in mind that the WDC Blue that's in that comparison video isn't the best of the SSD crop, either.

I've been watching the SSD market for a good while now, but the prices don't seem to be dropping. I need the storage but over €1000 for 512GB is pure lunacy. Been reading on the XT and it doesn't seem to be too well supported on MacOS, something to do with SMART cycles? Looking at less than a year lifetime.

Slutmonkey57b

As with anything else, you're just getting more performance at the same prices. The current gen of SSD's gives slightly higher densities at a much improved performance.

Also bear in mind that "headline" speeds quoted tend to be for higher capacity 120/250GB drives - 40 or 60GB drives have lower top speeds, but the same low access latency.

As with any apple, a non-apple approved part is always a gamble to see if Apple will **** it up for you. They've got to reward your loyalty somehow, after all.

ironclaw

Thanks for the input. Looking like the XT to be honest. Same power consumption but an increase in speed. I'd keep with the Apple Fuji stuff, but its been discontinued. Can't get them anywhere.